INSTRUCTIONS

Becoming a Design Contestant

To become a contestant in the CypressCortex-M3 PSoC 5 Design Challenge, please follow these instructions:

Click on the JOIN NOW button in the upper right.

Complete all the Profile Information

If you have all the information about your design ready, complete the fields on the MyContests page. If you're still gathering your ideas, no problem— you can fill this information in later.

Read the Official Contest Rules, then check the box confirming you have done so.

Click the Submit button. You will receive an email from "Cypress.com" with the subject "Please activate your account".

Click on the link in the activation email.

Log in to the site using your email and password you selected. This will take you to your MyAccount page where you can view and update the information you submitted.

You can update or design information by clicking on the MyContest tab.

Completing and submitting your design for approval

To notify the Design Challenge judges that your design is ready to be reviewed, click the "My design details are complete..." check box found below your design details on your MyContests tab in your MyProfile page. Then click Save and the judges will see your design on the list waiting to be approved.

Note: Approved designs will be displayed on the View Entries page as soon as we complete this page on the web site.

Becoming a Community Member

If you do not want to develop a design as part of the challenge, you can still participate in the Forums and interact with the designers by becoming a Community Member. Just follow these instructions:

1. Click on the JOIN NOW button in the upper right.

2. Complete all the Profile Information

3. If you have all the information about your design ready, complete the fields on the MyContests page. If you're still gathering your ideas, no problem— you can fill this information in later.

4. Read the Official Contest Rules, then check the box confirming you have done so.

5. Click the Submit button. You will receive an email from "Cypress.com" with the subject "Please activate your account".

6. Click on the link in the activation email.

7. Log in to the site using your email and password you selected. This will take you to your MyAccount page where you can view and update the information you submitted.

8. You can update or design information by clicking on the MyContest tab.

Note: Community members can become Design Contestants at any time during Phase 1 by clicking on the MyContest tab in their profile and submitting an abstract and block diagram.

Getting Started

Any individual may enter the Contest (each a “Contestant”) by registering on the contest website located at www.cypress.com/go/challenge (the “Contest Website”) and submitting through the Contest Website a paper design for a new product incorporating CYPRESS’s PSoC Creator development tool as further described under “Phase One” below. By entering the Contest, each Contestant agrees to abide by the terms of these Official Rules, the terms of any terms of use, cypress.com membership agreement, or other policies applicable to “Members” or other users of the Contest Website (collectively, the “Policies”), and by the decisions of the Sponsors and the Judges (as defined below), which are final and binding on all matters pertaining to the Contest. In order to be eligible to compete in the Contest, each Contestant must meet all qualifications set forth in these Official Rules and any Policies. These Official Rules will control over any conflicting provisions in any Policies. Each Contestant’s design must be based on and use the CYPRESS development tool as the main processing building block of the design. All necessary materials, as determined in Sponsors’ sole discretion, will be provided by Cypress, as further described below. In the event that Contestant elects to purchase additional materials, Sponsors shall in no way be responsible for reimbursing Contestant for that or any other costs. No purchase is necessary to be a Contestant. The Contest will include three phases:

(1) Phase One: Conceptual Design Phase – Each Contestant will develop a conceptual design, including an abstract, title, and block diagram, and upload these elements of the design to the Contest Website. Contestants have the option to create and submit a PSoC Creator design file. This item is not required but will receive additional consideration from the judging panel . The top 100 designs will receive a CYPRESS developer kit. The Conceptual Design Phase is open to new Contestants from November 10, 2010 (the “Start Date”) until frozen on January 24, 2011 at 8 a.m. EDT (the “Entry Deadline”). If all required elements are not submitted before the frozen time, contestant’s status will revert back to Member. One contestant(s) from this Phase will be chosen as Most Original Application, by the Judges, with Ratings input from the “Members” of the Contest Website and these winners will be announced on or about January 31, 2011. All remaining contestants are still eligible to proceed to the next phase.

(2) Phase Two: Early Prototype Design Phase – Contestants from the Conceptual Design Phase will enter the Early Prototype Design Phase. During the Early Prototype Design Phase, each Contestant will develop their design in prototype form, and provide a video of the working prototype. During this Phase, each Contestant must select at least one of three Resource Categories: Analog, Digital or Components. Along with the video, each contestant will also provide an accompanying bill-of-materials, schematics, and PSoC Creator project file (source code), all which must be uploaded by the Contestants to the Contest Website before the entries are frozen on March 21, 2011 at 8 a.m. EDT(Deadline extended to March 28, 2011 at 8:00 a.m. EDT). If all required elements are not submitted before the frozen time, contestant status will revert back to a Community Member. Three winners as Best Video will be chosen by Judges and Community ratings. Three Contestants will be selected from the Analog, Digital and Component Categories, as well the top three remaining Contestants based on their Community ratings. A total of twelve (12) Contestants will still be eligible to proceed to the next phase.
(3) Phase Three: Final Prototype Phase –Twelve Contestants selected as Finalists from the Early Prototype Design Phase will enter the Final Prototype Phase. During this last Phase, each Contestant will polish his or her design and ship the final working prototype to Cypress Semiconductors: Attn CYPRESS Design Challenge, Cypress Semiconductors Inc., 198 Champion Court San Jose CA 95134 (shipping costs and materials will be provided by Cypress). Along with the prototype, each contestant must submit a 2-page product brief, with instructions on how to operate the design, and all related software projects, such asexecutable module and software block diagram and other relevant material, on or before all entries are frozen on April 25, 2011 at 8 a.m. EDT. The Contest is not responsible for lost or broken prototypes.

From the field of 12 Finalists, Judges will choose 3 winners based on Creativity, Design Efficiency, Usefulness, Video Cleverness, and track specific criteria: Use of analog resources, digital resources and PSoC Creator Component. One additional winner will be selected by the Vote of the Members in the manner described on the Contest Website. From these four $1,000 winners, one Grand Prize Winner will be chosen by the Judges and awarded an additional $2,500 prize. All Winners of Phase Three will be announced on May 3, 2011 at the Embedded Systems Conference Silicon Valley.